169: Adam Deans survived osteosarcoma | bone cancer | distal femur | prosthetic leg

Adam Deans was an athletic teenager and had aspirations of becoming a professional athlete.  However, all that changed when he fell down a flight of stairs at school.  At first, doctors thought Adam had dislocated his left knee, but upon getting further medical attention, tests showed he had cancer, known as osteosarcoma in his distal femur.  Doctors recommended chemotherapy, but when that was ineffective, the leg was amputated in 2005.  In 2008, a friend introduced Adam to wheelchair basketball.  Still with his athletic prowess, he learned the sport quickly and became good at it, eventually the Australian national team.  It won the world championship in 2014 and in 2016, Adam played for the national team at the Paralympics at the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Adam retired from wheelchair basketball in 2017, but now married with two children, he is happy with his life.

 

Adam wanted to become a professional football player in his native Australia.  He seemed positioned for such a pursuit until one day in his final year of high school when his leg broke as he was going down a flight of stairs.  Rushing him to the hospital, paramedics initially thought Adam had dislocated his left knee and tried popping it back into place; but at the hospital, tests showed he was going downstairs with a broken distal femur, broken because of the presence of a cancerous tumor.

 

He soon learned he had osteosarcoma, a form of bone cancer.  Not only that, but at age 17, he would have to have his left leg amputated, followed by two rounds of chemotherapy.  He was gratified to experience very few of the nasty side effects that come with chemo, the worst being hair loss.

 

Like most teenagers, Adam wanted to fit in with his peers.  He wondered how that could happen and wondered if girls would find him attractive.  That was in 2005.  In 2008, a friend overcame a great deal of resistance and persuaded Adam to attend a wheelchair basketball practice.  At first, Adam was intimidated at the prospect of simultaneously handling a basketball and a wheelchair, but his athletic prowess kicked in.  He made the local team in Perth, then found a spot on the powerful Australian national team.

 

In 2014, the Aussies won the wheelchair basketball world championship and was favored to win gold in the paralympics at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  However, the squad came home without a medal after it was eliminated in the quarterfinals.  The following year, Adam retired from competitive wheelchair basketball, but his story should be a source of inspiration for anyone whose cancer diagnosis will result in disability.  He has gone on to get married and has two children.

 

By way of advice, Adam Deans says anyone diagnosed with cancer should not try to proceed by themselves.  He says anyone diagnosed should not be afraid to lean on others because “that’s what loved ones are for.”

 

Additional Resources:

 

Support Group: Sock It To Sarcoma  https://www.sockittosarcoma.org.au